The 'Gerard Deulofeu paradox' is football’s new philosophical brainteaser

It was another wild weekend of football around the country with incredible comebacks as well as the regular, general nonsense that seems to accompany every round of fixtures. The latter is of course, a reminder of why we love the sport.

So let’s start of with the game of the weekend at Wembley...

1) Heroes... and Leander

Sunday was a great day for fans of the phrase “the magic of the cup” as Watford came from 2-0 down to beat Wolves 3-2 in extra-time and book their place in the FA Cup final.

The game looked lost for the Hornets until Troy Deeney was taken down by Leander Dendoncker to win a 94th-minute penalty, which he duly converted to force extra-time.

But the real hero for Watford was Gerard Deulofeu. The Spaniard came on in the 66th minute with his team trailing and scored two world-class goals to first kick-start and then complete the comeback for his side.

All of which raises the question: why wasn’t he starting in the first place? And would it have been better or worse for Watford to have given him a go from the start?

Does that mean it was right call to leave Deulofeu out or the wrong one?

2) The man in the mask

Before Watford’s incredible turnaround, Wolves were cruising thanks to goals from Matt Doherty and Raul Jimenez.

4 - Raúl Jiménez has scored in four rounds of the FA Cup this season (third, fourth, quarter-final, semi-final); only Padraig Amond has scored in more (5). Celebration. #FACuppic.twitter.com/xkqolW0z5O

The goals further added to Vardy’s legacy as he has given hope to potential late-bloomers all over the world.

Today’s double for Jamie Vardy moves him up to 50th position on the Premier League’s all-time scorers list with 77 goals. It’s possible he’ll join the Premier League’s 100 club by the end of next season. He was playing non-league football up until the age of 25. Bloody amazing.

5) What a load of…

It’s been a tough season for Fort William. After starting the season on negative points for fielding ineligible players last year, the Scottish Highland League side have just two draws and no wins in the current campaign.

In fact, they are without a win since April 2017 and went into the weekend bottom of the table with negative seven points and a goal difference of around minus 200 from their opening 30 games of the season.

Despite these struggles, their players still showed up to take on Nairn County on Saturday, only to find a whole host of new problems before the match even began.

Kick off suspended until 3.30 pm due to the ref being delayed with the pitch currently waterlogged and covered in deer faeces.

7) Speaking of trebles

Not only did that win put Liverpool back to the top of the table but it means the Reds now have more points than Manchester United earned when they won the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League treble 20 years ago.

A fact that will do little, if anything, to diminish one of the greatest ever achievements in English football.

9) Milivojevic hits the spot

The Crystal Palace midfielder broke Newcastle hearts at the weekend as he buried a late penalty to give the Eagles all three points.

It was his 10th penalty of the campaign, putting him within one of the all-time record and making him responsible for roughly one eighth of all penalties scored this season.

That was Luka Milivojevic’s 10th successful penalty in PL he draws level with Alan Shearer 94/95, Frank Lampard 2009/10 & Steven Gerrard 2013/14. Only one player has scored more in PL - another Palace player - Andy Johnson with 11 2004/05. #cpfc

After initially being awarded a yellow card, the referee changed his mind after consulting with VAR and showed Rooney a red, with the drama of the situation only adding to the proceedings.

The best thing about Wayne Rooney getting sent off after VAR review is that to change the card, the ref had to first pull out the yellow, make the sign that he was cancelling it, and then show the red. He could have just shown the red, but I appreciate the theater.